SHP Leading Designhttps://shp.com
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 12:58:27 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.5Building Sustainable Spaces in Schoolshttps://shp.com/2018/02/15/building-sustainable-spaces-in-schools/
https://shp.com/2018/02/15/building-sustainable-spaces-in-schools/#respondThu, 15 Feb 2018 12:54:53 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7098While it’s a topic that was rarely mentioned decades ago, sustainability is now commonly discussed and planned for in many new buildings and renovations. This is especially true in schools with their community-driven, collaborative processes that also have certain unique state requirements and goals.

Yet there’s still a lot of misunderstanding of what exactly sustainability is and how it can help achieve the goals of a project. Most commonly, sustainability is thought to refer to a building’s environmental impact; things like how much energy is used and how large of a carbon footprint it might have. Environmental impact is certainly a key aspect of sustainable design, but true sustainability plays such a foundational role that it touches nearly all aspects of a project.

The concept of a “Triple Bottom Line,” coined by John Elkington in 1994 to describe sustainability as impacting people, planet and profit, is perhaps overly simplified and over-used, but it does begin to identify the true complexity of sustainable design.

Whether in schools or office buildings, parks or playgrounds, sustainability is focused on maximizing long-term benefits while minimizing negative effects, whether that’s for the budget, the happiness of occupants or the good of the environment. With that definition, it’s easy to see how sustainability can positively impact both the structural elements of a building and the daily lives of the occupants who use a building most often.

Environmental Sustainability

With greater public pressure on ensuring new buildings are as ecologically friendly as possible, it’s important for schools to be leaders in environmental sustainability. It’s part of our focus at SHP in future-focused design that meets and anticipates the needs of a fast-evolving landscape over the next several decades. Additionally, the Ohio Facilities of Construction Commission (OFCC) has helped school architecture in Ohio specifically take giant leaps forward in sustainability by requiring schools that receive state funding for their construction projects to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. Similar programs exist in other states, so it’s important that your architecture partner understand these before beginning any project.

LEED Certification is a third-party rating and certification system which verifies that a building is designed to be sustainable using a comprehensive set of sustainability criteria. There are four levels of certification – Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum – that are awarded based on the number of sustainable design strategies the building design achieves.

The sustainable design strategies included in LEED are meant to be comprehensive, and they encompass five basic categories of sustainability:

Sustainable site development

Water usage

Energy efficiency

Material use and conservation

Indoor environmental quality

As you can see by the diversity of categories, there are numerous ways that building design can impact sustainability. A typical LEED project strives to do the following:

Develop the site it occupies in a way that minimizes impact on the environment and the project’s neighbors.

Use building materials and construction practices that conserve natural resources through recycling and utilize local resources that reduce material transportation impacts.

Create an environment that protects human health and comfort through avoidance of volatile product emissions, provision of fresh outside air and creation of a comfortable thermal environment.

While LEED is typically voluntary and pursued by a building owner and design team to demonstrate a commitment to sustainability, as mentioned above, LEED certification at a Silver or higher level is required on all state-funded Ohio School projects. This is a fantastic recognition by the OFCC that sustainably designed schools create environments that are better for student health and well-being, the planet we live on, and the long term financial health of the districts they serve.

Human-Centered Sustainability

The role of sustainability continues to evolve, most recently with an increased focus on the inclusion of building spaces—especially those where we spend large amounts of our daily time, like at work and school—that promote the long-term, lasting health and wellness of those that use the building.

Numerous recent studies, including an often-cited one by Harvard, have shown direct impacts on cognitive function correlated to indoor air quality. It has becoming quite clear that a focus on sustainability can help create a school that, through its very design, makes students healthier and happier.

This is called human-centered sustainability, and you can certainly begin to see its appeal. While this type of sustainability is recognized in the LEED rating system through indoor environment strategies, a new certification focused entirely on the human impacts of building designs was recently created, the WELL Building Standard.

Physical activity in schools is also a focus of human-centered sustainability: promoting bodies that are healthier and more vibrant. Like the studies that link improved cognitive function to good indoor air quality, studies are proving that increased opportunities for physical activity improve focus and help reduce behavioral issues in schools. This can mean constructing spaces that allow students to be physically active, creating easy connections to exterior environments for play and even specifying furniture that allow students to burn energy through rocking, wobbling or swiveling.

All of these design strategies can serve as learning opportunities, allowing schools to use already beneficial sustainable efforts to also promote learning for the life of the building. Rooftop gardens and rain barrels, for instance, require specific design considerations aimed at reducing potable water use, but also inherently encourage hands-on learning by staff and students of all grades. Other, more holistic design decisions like those described above can become the basis for older students to conduct their own research projects and studies into how the built environment can be beneficial.

]]>https://shp.com/2018/02/15/building-sustainable-spaces-in-schools/feed/0Balancing Act: Freedom, Transparency, Access and Safety in Schoolshttps://shp.com/2018/02/08/balancing-act-freedom-transparency-access-and-safety-in-schools/
https://shp.com/2018/02/08/balancing-act-freedom-transparency-access-and-safety-in-schools/#respondThu, 08 Feb 2018 19:06:23 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7089Security is an increasing concern among school administrators. On top of common issues like fights and bullying, school officials must prepare for an active shooter event, taking into consideration communication, drills, training and even classroom and facility design.

There’s no question that schools should be safe havens for students—safety is a prerequisite for education. But balancing school security with innovative, 21st century learning environments can be a challenge. As an architectural firm specializing in learning spaces, we want to resist the urge to shove students into concrete box classrooms in the name of safety, and instead focus on creating innovative spaces that are conducive to both safety and learning.

Trends in pedagogy and school design call for more flexibility and increased student choice in educational environments. Giving students the freedom to work in spaces that best fit their needs and creating environments that foster learning, collaboration and creativity creates new challenges and opportunities for administrators and architects to keep students safe.

Through significant research with first responders and our work with various school districts, we’ve outlined some best practices and design considerations for maximizing safety in 21st century learning environments:

Controlled access: Locked doors can control who comes in and out of the school, as well as where they enter and exit.

Locks: Privacy locksets allow anyone to lock the door, giving occupants the ability to hide inside a classroom. Staff members have keys to unlock the doors, and first responders are equipped to access locked doors even without keys.

Lights: All rooms should have light switches that can be turned off by anyone in the room (that means light switches that are lower to the ground in younger grades). In emergencies, any occupants could then switch off the light to create the appearance that the room is empty.

Glass: Glass — in doors, windows and interior corridors — is prevalent in schools and can play a major role in school security.

Locks, lights and controlled access are easy to incorporate into classrooms and don’t affect the school’s overall design. Glass, on the other hand, requires more strategic safety planning because it can tremendously impact design and security.

While glass walls and interior windows may pose a safety concern in the case of an armed intruder, the increased transparency improves everyday safety and supervision. School safety often brings to mind active shooter situations, which are a serious concern for school districts across the country, but these aren’t the only safety threat. Fights, bullying and other issues all fall under the school safety umbrella, and these events are far more prevalent in schools.

Adding interior windows and glass walls increases supervision in classrooms and across common spaces, allowing teachers to oversee students working in groups outside of the traditional classroom setting and heightening students’ awareness that their actions are visible to more people throughout the building. Good sight lines allow minimal supervision across a maximum amount of space. This “always on” approach to safety is called passive security, and it’s a foundational design parameter.

Increasing transparency has benefits other than safety as well. Glass walls allow daylight from classrooms to reach interior corridors, making those spaces more comfortable. Daylighting is known to have positive effects on building occupants and could potentially reduce as much as one-third of total building energy costs, according to the National Institute of Building Sciences.

There are also ways for schools with interior glass to increase security in the case of an active shooter. For example, fire extinguishers kept in every classroom can be used to fog interior windows so that intruders can’t see into classrooms. Some school districts may even elect to use bullet-resistant glass on entries and in classrooms.

The layout and design of the building can also impact safety, especially in a crisis. Having multiple routes to reach the same destination enhances first responder ability to control and isolate an intruder. But it also has the added benefit of helping students avoid conflicts during a regular school day; they can select a different route to get from their class to the cafeteria to avoid a bully or uncomfortable social situation.

An ideal space for Early Childhood Education is fundamentally different from spaces designed for older kids.

It feels obvious that this would be the case.

But oftentimes the littlest learners spend the majority of their time in spaces designed for fully-grown adults, let alone big kids. Typically, this is due to economic or pragmatic realities – a space becomes available in a church basement or in an under-used wing of an old elementary school.

Even in situations not caused by limited resources, the spaces in which the littlest children learn often provide very little in the way of accommodation or acknowledgement of their needs. While many are actively working to change that, the theories behind how this came to be are nonetheless insightful.

The idea that children ages five and younger are not only capable but literally in the midst of actively learning is a relatively new one. While we have had social structures that supported early childhood development since we evolved as a species, history suggests that for most of the last six millennia at least one of two models prevailed:

Blank Slate Model: Children are assumed to be a blank slate (“tabula rasa”) and spent their first few years in a fog, incapable of intentional behavior or meaningful interactions.

Mini-Adult Model: Children are seen as larval versions of adults, to be sequestered away in mini grown-up costumes, seen but not heard, forged (by means of the requisite rigor, beating and shaping) into obedient, productive adult workers.

Anyone who has read a historical novel or biography from before the first industrial revolution knows that, while methods and strategies may have varied from home to home and culture to culture, there was very little in the way of organized academic theory regarding best practices for early childhood education.

Life was hard, people had to grow up fast, so they could assist in providing for the family and there was no time to waste. Besides, the brutal realities of hard labor, minimal medicine and the forces of nature meant that parents had bigger things to worry about, like simply keeping their children alive!

Friedrich Froebel: The Father of Kindergarten

As the western world began to shift from an agrarian to an industrial lifestyle, the challenges (and expectations) began to change as well and, in 1837 a young man named Friedrich Froebel invented something new – Kindergarten.

Froebel grew up in Germany in the town of Stadtilm within the Thuringian Forest. He was a solitary child, forced by circumstance as well as inclination to essentially raise himself. He spent so much of his time exploring the woods on his own, he developed a deep reverence for the spiritual and educational value of nature and its workings.

He worked for a time as a surveyor and then, after expressing interest in becoming a teacher, went to study with Johann Pestalozzi, an innovative Swiss educator with the novel idea that children, especially under-privileged children, would benefit from an educational strategy that recognized the primary values of naturalism and love.

Pestalozzi’s curriculum of “hand, head and heart” provided Froebel with the foundation for his own pedagogical construct, which he began to develop in earnest after taking a job as the tutor for a wealthy Frankfurt family.

As he worked with his charges, he undertook an examination of the ways in which they learned and, by applying the close observational and analytical skills homed in his youth, developed a curriculum intended to address their educational requirements in a way that coincided (and progressed) with the child’s developmental capacity.

His curriculum consisted of a series of ten simple “gifts.” They were engaging enough that the children eagerly played with them and, during play (and with gentle guidance from the teacher) gradually discovered insights into principles of the world, starting with simple concepts like color, texture, relative weight, and moving quickly on to more complex ideas of symmetry, proportion, geometric and mathematical principles and more.

In addition to the “gifts”, Froebel created a corresponding teaching strategy to allow others to use these tools in their efforts to teach young children. He opened what may have been the first laboratory school, where he taught children while also teaching teachers.

In a matter of only a few decades the concept spread across Europe—and the world—with dozens of schools in multiple countries, all in an age before telephones, televisions and automobiles. The first kindergarten in the United States opened in St. Louis in 1873.

Froebel’s ideas, and those of his mentors and successors, were seen as progressive. At the same time that they were advocating for a nurturing, child-centered approach that acknowledged the value and inherent worth of each student to create and forge their own education, there were others who advocated for a more rigorous, industrial model which prepared children from families of limited means for lives spent as workers in the emerging industrial economy. Meanwhile, children from more privileged backgrounds pursued private educations with personal tutors and university degrees.

Needless to say, for a long time the latter forces won. But all along there were voices calling for change and, as time went on, a diverse group of well-thought out, research based, internally cohesive pedagogical approaches emerged that are seen as innovative, even today, including: including Montessori, Reggio Inspired, High/Scope and the Bank Street Approach.

]]>https://shp.com/2018/01/31/early-innovation-for-early-learners/feed/0Meet Our Thought Leaders: Jeffrey Sackenheim, Workplace Learninghttps://shp.com/2018/01/22/meet-our-thought-leaders-jeffrey-sackenheim-workplace-learning/
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 19:03:07 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7072Vice President and Architect Jeffrey Sackenheim has been making waves in the industry since 1998 with a keen eye for anticipating and adapting to trends. Jeffrey celebrated 15 years with SHP in July 2017.

What is your favorite thing about SHP?
It may sound cliche but I love our culture. I get to work with so many kind and talented people who are all invested in the same I’ve-got-your-back values and pour their best into their work.

What originally attracted you to the industry?
My dad built custom houses, including the two houses I grew up in. The exposure that I had to design and construction at such an early age, coupled with loving to draw and make things on my own, definitely drew me to the industry. I took my first architecture course in high school and the rest is history.

What would you do if you weren’t an architect?
If I wasn’t designing buildings, I would probably be building them. I love seeing a project physically come together before your eyes. I would probably be cutting grass, too. The most enjoyable job I ever had in high school was mowing lawns. I still love making my yard look beautiful, so I could see myself doing that for a living as well. Other dream jobs of mine include opening my own barbecue restaurant and becoming a famous rock musician.

If you had to pick a favorite project, what building would you choose and why?
Curiosity Advertising… it is a very dramatic space with lots of energy and positive vibes.

When you’re not working, what are some of your favorite things to do?
Aside from enjoying good barbecue and beer, I love coaching my kids’ sports. Our family summer vacation to Lake Cumberland is another highlight every year.

]]>Automation is a Catalyst for Positive Changehttps://shp.com/2017/12/22/automation-is-a-catalyst-for-positive-change/
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 16:30:51 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7065For as long as computers have existed—and long before they could fit in the palm of our hands—there have been fears over what “The Robots” can do to us. From Robocops to Terminators, we’ve feared the impact that technology can have on our society, despite mountains of examples of just what good technology can do.

Not too long ago, we feared technology would get confused and just… stop. The Y2K bug provoked mass hysteria over what some viewed as a society overly reliant on computers, prepared to collapse under the boogeyman threat of a computer glitch. Today, the fear is automation. While it doesn’t have people running in a mad dash to stock up on milk, bread and toilet paper, it has nevertheless stoked a widespread fear that, when examined closely, is unfounded.

WE’VE SEEN MASSIVE CHANGE BEFORE

Those who point to automation as a tidal wave of change that will crash down—obliterating jobs and industries and leaving behind wrecked economy—fail to see the historical precedent of industrial sea changes. As a global society, we’ve seen at least two major industrial revolutions already, both of which completely changed the face of the workforce and industry.

But for every major technological advancement society has made (the printing press, the loom, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, telegraphs, telephones… the list goes on…) there has been a corresponding change in the relationship between employers and employees.

So why should the third industrial revolution, as the present wave of technological change is already being named, be any different? After all, on a very pragmatic level, our ability to thrive as a species is built upon our ability to adapt. And adapt we shall.

CHANGE INSPIRES INNOVATION

The ability we collectively have to adapt is precisely why we shouldn’t fear automation and why we should embrace it: eager and ready to solve the challenge. In the podcast that inspired this post, MIT economist Andrew McAfee points to an often-missed aspect of the automation discussion that is crucial: the problem with automation isn’t the loss of jobs, but the loss of a certain type of jobs. Mainly, those that require less education.

After all, the problem with automation is much more nuanced than the impact on individual income. “When I read about and go look around communities where work has gone away, I don’t see people starving. I don’t think lack of money is the problem. It’s a lack of dignity, glue for a community, meaning, purpose in life… things that a job is really good at giving to people,” McAffee says.

Despite the first stages of automation we’ve already begun to see, the American economy has continued to add jobs for more than 80 months straight. Job openings, however, increasingly require specialization, skills and education. That’s why automation should be a rallying cry: not to stop the impending robot overlords, but to break down barriers to education, so that we can once-and-for-all allow knowledge, learning and skills development to provide fulfillment to all those who seek it.

Automation isn’t evil, it’s a bright spotlight on why now, more than ever, we have to empower a learning-first culture that provides opportunities at every stage of life to learn, develop a trade, gain a skill and constantly improve. Automation is highlighting the fact that we must provide rich opportunities for every person to achieve dignity through education.

To get there, our institutions—both industry and academic—need to answer some tough questions.

Why require a costly, traditional four-year degree when someone can learn their skills through programs like besomebody?

Why should colleges ever hesitate to share knowledge widely and freely, when the oldest and most prestigious institutions are already opening the gates through platforms like Edx?

Why shouldn’t employers begin training their employees for new skills, anticipating future pipeline needs in the wake of automation? After all, who is better poised to help guide the automated semi-trucks of the future than today’s truck drivers with a little training in logistics?

How can educational institutions step up their current collaborations with communities, hospitals, businesses, governments and more to truly understand unique industry needs… and start preparing for them, now?

When you see automation for what it is, and you answer these questions accordingly, you can see the optimism the future holds. Together, we can seize this moment and use learning as our guiding light to find a future of prosperity for us all.

]]>Meet Our Thought Leaders: Ed Melvin, Outdoor Educationhttps://shp.com/2017/12/22/meet-our-thought-leaders-ed-melvin-outdoor-education/
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 14:13:31 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7060Landscape Architect and Outdoor Learning Thought Leader Ed Melvin has shared his appreciation of the great outdoors with SHP for five of his 30 years in the industry. During that time he’s helped schools unlock the potential of outdoor spaces, not just as a space for play (though that’s important!), but as a place of limitless learning.

What is your favorite thing about your role at SHP?
I like that my unique role allows me to work on a variety of project teams, because with each project comes a new challenge and environment to play in. I also love that part of my work involves encouraging and inspiring others to learn in and enjoy nature just as much as I do. I get to not only pursue but spread my passion.

What originally attracted you to the industry?
As a young person, my favorite place to be was a forest and my favorite thing to do was draw, so I sought after a career that would encompass both of those things.

What was your dream job when you were little?
I wanted to be a veterinarian and an artist when I grew up. I also wanted to be wise, although that’s not really a job. I suppose I’m living two thirds of my dream, as I get to create (as an artist does) spaces that promote learning (or becoming wise).

When you’re not working, what are some of your favorite things to do?
I enjoy escaping the busyness of life and spending time alone, whether cooking, drawing or practicing photography.

I don’t know how many times I’ve uttered this phrase in my life; a hundred, easily. To me, the scent of petrichor—the scientific term for the pleasant smell that accompanies a rain storm—is one of the most easily identifiable on earth. Every time I smell it, I am immediately transported to a memory, another place and time.

This phenomenon isn’t uncommon; smells ring bells. Thanks to our brain anatomy, there is a great memory power associated with smells that we do not consciously try to remember. For instance, there are particular holiday dishes, when I smell them, which bring the face of my great aunt Marie to my mind’s eye, even though I only met her a few times when I was very young.

What does your playground smell like?

As I have been thinking about this part of my senses series, I have wanted to change the word “smell” to something a little less… stinky, maybe. “What is the fragrance of your playground? What is the scent of your playground? What is the aroma of your playground?” This, of course, comes from my long experience designing gardens, where we choose very particular plants with pleasant fragrances.

When I ask, “What does your playground smell like?” I hear mostly garden-related responses: flowers and fresh air. Fragrance and smell are not something children think much about until confronted with it. Yet there is a very close relationship between learning and children’s exploration of tactile (feel), taste and smell senses. Very early in our learning, we explore first with our grasping fingers, which agitate what we hold, releasing its fragrance—then we put it in our mouth to taste. (I think of this process as the original “scratch and sniff” testing.)

From mud to mint, there are more smells than there are days of school. In an outdoor learning environment, we want to highlight all the smells of the outdoors, including sweet flower fragrance, damp organic soil, moist breeze after it rains and more. But when planning a learning environment, we need to dig deeper, metaphorically and literally.

Here are a few things to incorporate into outdoor learning spaces.

Plants

We will start with the obvious one, plants. When thinking about types of plants to include in and around an outdoor learning space, it is good to take a mixed approached. Try mixing different types of plants in areas with shrubs, perennials, herbs and vegetables, providing a sort of “along the way” path to discovery. Keep in mind, many indigenous plants are readily identifiable by their fragrance; when the twigs of a sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) are scratched they release a ‘fruit-loop’ smell, and common spicebush (Lindera benzoin) exudes a sweet and spicy fragrance when its leaves and twigs are agitated. Lavender emits a distinctive aroma that many find soothing.

Garden Materials

We don’t often think about the smell of miscellaneous garden materials, such as fallen logs and leaves, mud, sand and stones. But each has a unique smell which vary with the amount of water present. Integrating these organize garden materials serves a dual purpose, too. For example, a sand and stones add different textures that are perfect for little hands and feet to explore.

Smell of Weather

This is a great way to learn and live in our seasons, as each has a variety of smells unique to that time of year. Spring is full of smells of newness, fresh and clean. Summer, most abundant plant fragrance as well as the overall humid air carries some density. Autumn: Who doesn’t remember the smell of fallen leaf piles, pumpkin innards, campfires and split wood? Winter, we tend to not notice so much, but there is a sharp crispness to winter smells, pine boughs and evergreens, and even the damp, clean scent of snow.

My hope, if you have been following along with this series, is that it’s clear how all things which activate our senses are related and intertwined, full of opportunity for discovery. We just have to slow down and remind ourselves to examine what is around us through fresh, childlike senses.

]]>Fostering Workplace Passion Through Learninghttps://shp.com/2017/12/13/fostering-workplace-passion-through-learning/
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 15:21:37 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7046Learning is not something that should end at graduation; it should last a lifetime. We can learn by taking up hobbies and picking up books, joining bible studies or traveling the world. But life is busy and, quite honestly, it can be difficult to make learning a priority if it’s not already a part of your workday. That’s why more and more employees expect opportunities to learn and grow in their workplace.

Businesses are finding that workplace learning initiatives are not only beneficial for their employees, but are vital for the growth of the company as a whole. Happy, engaged employees are often more productive. Enjoyable work environments foster greater creativity and commitment. But employee engagement can be difficult to maintain, and sometimes it’s difficult to find what works and what doesn’t. Studies suggest taking engagement one step further, by focusing on inspiring passion.

It’s pretty simple. If you’re passionate about something, of course you want to learn more about it! Defining your company mission and rallying your employees behind it, and engaging them in activities that help them discover and develop their talents and interests are all great ways to foster passionate learning in the workplace.

]]>Meet Our Thought Leaders: Jeff Parker, Educational Visioninghttps://shp.com/2017/12/05/meet-our-thought-leaders-jeff-parker-educational-visioning/
Tue, 05 Dec 2017 19:38:09 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7041Jeff Parker, architect and educational planner, has been with SHP for 17 of his 25 years in the industry. Known for his passionate dedication to his work, Jeff leads the educational visioning activities for the firm and often shares his thoughts and insights throughout the community and on our website.

What is your favorite thing about your role at SHP?
As an architect and educational planner at SHP, I get to help shape learning. From designing spaces that transform the way education takes place, to gathering district stakeholders together in order to help them cast vision for their new spaces… all of the work I do is done with the purpose of redefining learning.

Getting to see the reactions of the students that are impacted by their new buildings is the most exciting and life-giving part of my job. It reminds me that I’m doing more than designing buildings… I’m getting to play a part in something much bigger.

How has your job/the industry changed since you first started working?
The tools are all different: cooler, faster and more engaging. But communication is still the most important part of the design process. Understanding and articulating exactly what the consumer or client values and needs is the first step to designing anything.

When you’re not working, what are some of your favorite things to do?
I enjoy playing Settlers of Catan with my family (my wife, Brenda, and our three children; Ellie, Anna and Sam), and playing basketball and volleyball.

Is there anything else you want people to know about, your career or SHP?
Fun fact: I have an SHP tattoo… I hope the logo doesn’t change too much!

]]>Personalized learning: The importance of teachers in a technology-driven worldhttps://shp.com/2017/11/30/personalized-learning-the-importance-of-teachers-in-a-technology-driven-world/
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 18:35:13 +0000http://shp.com/?p=7035As more and more people join the conversation around personalized learning and the role advancing technology plays in the future of education; parents, academics, and bystanders alike begin to raise concerns about digital dependency and lack of human interaction.

Personalized learning has its own definition apart from EdTech; it is teaching in a way that engages students and helps teachers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each learner and then tailoring curricula to fit each student’s unique needs. Technology has become woven into many personalized learning frameworks because of its ability to track individual student progress and generate unique content that surpasses the capability of a single teacher.

But personalized learning is not an invitation for technology to replace teachers. It is not handing each child their own iPad and pair of earbuds while the teacher sits back to watch. If that were the case, then we would be right back to square-one, with the problem being the lack of engagement and student-focus (only instead of students dazing at a teacher whose lecture drags on all of class, we would be placing our children in front of screens and letting technology lead the lecture.) Technology on its own solves nothing. Teacher involvement and technology are meant to go hand in hand.

Technology is a tool designed not to replace teachers but to help teachers understand the needs of their students, produce classwork that challenges students at different levels, encourage collaboration and creativity, and ultimately helps teachers empower their students to take shared responsibility of their own learning. Personalized learning is a call to action for all parties involved—students and teachers.